Spooky this is. I've just posted this on the D300 owners thread If it's settings for the D300 your after,then read on. A friend of mine spotted this on you-tube and typed it out for convenience. Link to you-tube is at the end
Action shooting settings for Nikon D3 D700 _ D300
1. The Shooting Menu:- The RAW setting must be set for uncompressed quality, so, the Raw quality remains the same to allow larger amount of control to adjust the Raw files in post-processing. With this feature set the colour rendering and sharpness can be lost.
2. Active D-Lighting must be turned off to allow you to continue the high speed sequences up to 50 RAW without stopping. This feature slows down the data transfer to the card and can be done in post processing. Active D-Lighting shortens the buffer.
3. High ISO NR (noise reduction) must be turned off because it automatically reduces the amount of noise be adding a Gaussian blur effect it is similar to D-Lighting it requires more time to process the files.
4. Long Exposure Delay must be turned off because it will not give you the full frame rate speed that you wish to use. For example, you would like to use 9 frames per second but with Long Exp. Delay turned on it will drop to 3 4 frames per second.
5. Custom Setting Menu 1 The AFC Priority must be set for Focus- that way, the camera will refuse to capture unless the subject is in focus. This feature only takes action when you switch the AF drive to AF-Continuous.
6. Custom Setting Menu 2 Dynamic AF Area, of course, depends on your preferences, but for better tracking set for the 51-points (3D-Tracking). With the 51 Point set, the camera will widen the ability to focus anywhere within the focusing area. The 3D-Tracking is the newest technology to help the camera by improving its focusing ability. The 3D Tracking allows your camera to chase the moving subject within the focus area and the AF point will automatically move to stay with the moving subject. With this feature turned on the camera will focus continuous while moving around to chase the subject.
7. The focusing Tracking with Lock-On - is one of the largest problems that people are ignoring. It must be turned off to allow the camera focus continuously without delay. If you set for short/norm/long that is the time delay between refocuses. The action moves fast and having /this feature turned off will keep the camera focus continuously and fast without delay.
8. Multi-Selector button - can depend on your preferences it is the best to set it for Shooting Mode> Reset. It allows you to reset the focusing point faster without turning on the info button to see where your current focus point is located, It resets by putting the AF area back into the center of the view finder to prepare for the next chase.
9. The Function button + dial can depend on your preferences it is the best to set it for Select Image Area (FX/DX/5;4) but you can set it for Select Image Area (FX/DX) without the 5;4 crop mode. It save tie without going through the menus to switch from one IA to another.
10. White Balance The white balance depends on the lighting controls you are working under, Tungsten, Fluorescent etc. In some areas in rare situations such as basketball gyms have mixed lighting conditions T & F the trick is to switch into Calvin Temperature (K) and set for the colour temp that is right between the T & F temperatures. This can be adjusted in post processing.
11. The Shutter Speed can depend on how fast the action moves. 1/500 of a second is right, but you will need to set your aperture & ISO to deliver shutter speed of 1/500 +
12. Aperture Of course 2.8 is not always ideal for sports etc. F4 on a pro lens, f8 for most lenses. It is important to do the maths for manual exp mode by changing the apertures to F4 or F8 until you get 1/500 speed, after changing the ISO sensitivity.
On body adjustments.
1 Front of body shooting selector CSM to C
1 Set Auto area af to top setting (white square in brackets)
1 3D Matrix Metering to center setting
2 Change from single shot to either CL or CH on top dial
3 Change to magnifying eye piece if you have one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG5UKwgGRJI